1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a combination suction retraction instrument for surgery.
2. Description of the Related Art
When oral surgery is being performed in a patient's mouth, it is necessary that the working area of the mouth be kept free of fluids and debris. These fluids may include saliva, blood, liquid used with drilling, and/or rinsing liquids, and the debris may be drilling dust and/or broken pieces of teeth. It is important for the patient's comfort to keep fluids from accumulating in the patient's mouth so that the fluids and debris are not swallowed and the patient can, if necessary, breath through his or her mouth.
Suction devices are used to keep the oral surgery work area clean and the patient's mouth relatively clear of fluids and debris. Such suction devices typically comprise a suction tube, which is connected to a long flexible hose, which is, in turn, connected to a vacuum source. When an oral surgeon is working on a tooth, an assistant is often required to manipulate the suction tube so as to maintain a clean work area and enable good visibility for the oral surgeon of the tooth being worked on. This procedure is problematic in that the assistant may be unable to anticipate the oral surgeon's moves in the patient's mouth and may thus be unable to keep the end of the suction tube out of the oral surgeon's way. As a consequence, the oral surgeon may prefer to do the evacuation of fluids and debris from the patient's mouth himself or herself.
During oral surgery, it is usually also necessary for the oral surgeon to use a retractor to push or pull soft tissue regions of the patient's mouth away from the work area. This may be necessary to provide a more unrestricted view of the work area. However, it is reported in U.S. Pat. No. 4,883,426 that problems can result when both tissue retraction and fluid evacuation are needed. For example, the working area of a patient's mouth may become crowded with dental implements to an extent that the oral surgeon's task becomes very difficult to perform. Moreover, it may be necessary for the oral surgeon to frequently and repeatedly shift between tissue retraction and fluid evacuation implements, thereby requiring a longer time for the surgery being performed. U.S. Pat. No. 4,883,426 seeks to solve this problem by providing a single dental implement which combines the features of a fluid evacuation device and a soft tissue retraction device. Combination suction retraction instruments have also been proposed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,875,173, 5,281,134, 5,123,403 and 4,049,000.
However, these devices do have drawbacks. When using these instruments, tissue, root tips, and bone may be drawn in to clog suction. For example, when an oral surgeon wishes to do deep socket exploration with an inseparable suction retraction device during surgery, the suction piece of the instrument can clog with tissue and debris thereby prolonging the surgical procedure.
Therefore, there is a need for a combination suction retraction instrument that serves the functions of: (1) minimizing the number of instruments in the surgeon's field of view, (2) maintaining a clear surgical field free from bone slurry, blood, saliva and irrigant, and (3) providing the utility for rapid separation of suction from retraction for independent suction use during deep socket exploration.